During COVID$-19$ when global mobility was restricted, a new type of tourism, namely, $$workation$$ received strong attention $($Bassyiouny & Wilkesmann, $2023).$ Workation brought a work and leisure balance, especially to knowledge workers, companies, and several industries worldwide that have higher levels of skills in information and communication technologies $($ICTs$)$ that enable remote work and flexible environments $($Voll et al$.,2023).$ Those who enjoy such a lifestyle are called $$workationers$.$

Meanwhile, some workationers are called differently as Digital nomads. The image of digital nomads is seen as travelers who stay in luxury hotels or resorts with beautiful, exotic landscapes $($Hannonen et al$.,2023).$ They appear in different tourist destinations and are considered visitors who influence the local economy $($Hannonen et al$.,2023).$ They usually leave their home and travel for most of their time, and some of them abandon their permanent address and fully concentrate on their lifestyle $($Hannonen et al$.,2023$; Reichenberger, $2018).$

However, concerning the lifestyle of digital nomads, one question can be posed: whether they are tourists or not. Back to review the most widely accepted definition by the United Nations World Tourism Organization $($UNWTO$),$ tourists are those who travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for leisure, business, and other purposes, for not more than one consecutive year $($Netto$,2009$; UNWTO, $1995).$ However, their travel patterns do not seem to follow the definition of UNWTO. Hence, there remains a need to clarify the profile of the digital nomads and relevant issues in terms of tourism and hospitality management and marketing to establish strategies to provide services to them.

Theoretical Foundations

$2\mathrm{.}1.$ Who exactly are digital nomads?

The term $$digital nomad$$ was introduced by Makimoto and Manners $(1997),$ describing an outcome of technological advancement influencing people$$s lives $($Hannonen$,2020$; Makimoto & Manners $1997).$ Specifically, there are common descriptions of digital nomads: location$-$independent workers such as self$-$employed knowledge workers who leverage professional skills to enable them to work remotely and enjoy leisure simultaneously $($Althoff et al$.,2022).$

As they use professional ICT skills, most of them are young, mostly Millennials and Generation X$.$ Figure $1$ demonstrates the share of digital nomads by age cohort $($MBO$,2023),$ showing that digital nomads are mostly Millennials and Generation X$.$ Moreover, the number of Generation Z digital nomads is expected to grow further $($MBO$,2023).$

Figure $1.$ Share of Digital Nomads $($MBO$,2023)$

In general, digital nomads are in the middle class and enjoying comfortable lives, with stable housing, educational opportunities, and disposable income for travel and leisure in their country of origin, their passports are well$-$accepted by many countries which helps their life of mobility $($Mancinelli$,2020).$ While it seems that home is not important to digital nomads, they form a feeling of being at home through an online connection with their families, thus their home is not defined by the geography or amenities of a place $($de Loryn, $2022).$

Digital nomads mostly originate from wealthy, industrialized nations $($Thompson$,2019).$ Based in high$-$income regions, some of them take advantage of $$geo$-$arbitrage$,$ spending their disposable income in the countries or regions where the cost of living is less expensive such as Global South $($e$.$g$.,$ Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania$)($Dados & Connell, $2012$; Holleran, & Notting, $2023).$ However, their status is rather underemployed compared to non$-$digital nomads who are in the same socio$-$economic class, because very few of them maintain full$-$time employment with limited benefits such as healthcare, retirement, unemployment insurance, or family leave $($Thompson$,2019).$

Looking closely at Digital nomads, their life patterns are different. Cook $(2023)$ classified five types of digital nomads as depicted in Figure $2.$

Figure $2.$ The key digital nomad classifications $($Cook$,2023).$

There are five types of digital nomads; $(1)$ freelance digital nomads; $(2)$ digital nomad business owners; $(3)$ salaried digital nomads; $(4)$ experimental digital nomads; $(5)$ armchair digital nomads $($Cook$,2023).$ The first, the freelance type is the most typical digital nomads as they leverage their skills to work remotely and mobility between destinations $($Mancinelli$,2020).$ The second type is digital nomads as business owners who are free from employment or organizational regulations. The third type is salaried digital nomads who are employed by organizations but possess freedom of mobility.

The fourth and fifth types are technically digital nomads$-$to$-$be$.$ Experimental digital nomads are freelancers or business owners traveling but not making revenue. Finally, the armchair type is a kind of people who have deeply considered becoming digital nomads. Cook $(2023)$ argued that th